RESTORATION
monly known as snowcats, by its use of four independently
mounted tracks.
Tucker today
Today, the Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation continues manufac-turing
and selling over snow vehicles. The company also has
an agricultural division that specializes in soft ground appli-cations
as well as a full factory service department. As well,
the company supports sales and service worldwide through
authorized dealers.
“Tucker Sno-Cat® manufactures over snow vehicles for many
different applications,” said Tucker Sno-Cat sales manager
John Meilicke. “Tucker’s largest market would be snowmobile
trail grooming, while utility in the Western United States and
Canada would be a close second. I would say the model 2000
Tucker Trail Groomer would be our most popular product.
And the 2000Xtra Lite utility machine would be next in line.
“Our Tucker Sno-Cat vehicles are known for having four ar-ticulating
tracks that provide the ultimate traction advantage
in steep terrain and blizzard conditions while leaving a gentle
footprint over snow covered ground. Smoother turns and bet-ter
navigation of obstacles are a favorite of companies needing
to access remote locations.”
Over the years, Tucker Sno-Cat has had to overcome many
challenges to maintain success on a global scale. For example,
United States Environmental Protection Agency requirements
and keeping up with the current emission standard can be very
time consuming and costly. Other challenges include price in-creases
from outside vendors and low snow years.
“Price increases can be a challenge. Especially with the
limited budgets that are associated with snowmobile trail
grooming,” said Meilicke. “And with the low snow years, sell-ing
products worldwide definitely helps because Tucker is not
dependent on only selling products in one territory.”
Classic cats
Recently, Tucker Sno-Cat has also branched out a little in their
business with its Classic Cats program which buys, sells and
restores classic cats. The company saw the demand for re-stored
or operational classic cats and parts. Along with that,
during the slow season on the new vehicles production side, it
was a way to keep employees employed and busy.
“Tucker was so successful building quality Cats from the
beginning, that many of the early models are still in existence
today and so the idea was born to restore these Classic Cats,”
said Meilicke. “The clean lines and craftsmanship of these orig-inal
Cats are timeless, so whether they are restoring a Cat to
its original glory or updating it with a custom look, the charm
of the Sno-Cat® shines through. We source the Classic Cats
through word of mouth, the website and various shows.”
Clyde Moody is the vintage restoration manager at Tucker
Sno-Cat and his help depends on what needs to be worked on
(i.e. welding, track work or painting). The company uses a lot
of different workers throughout a cat project.
“Restoration has many levels depending on what the cus-tomer
wants,” said Moody. “A ground up (full) restoration is the
most complex.
“You start by talking with the customer and finding out what
they like such as the color, finishes, interior materials, options:
i.e. winches, roof rack, stereo, etc., and then how they will use
it. Then you start stripping the cat to the ground, pulling the
motor and getting it sent out to get rebuilt. The transmission
and transfer case we rebuild in house. Once all the skins are
off you send the frame, pontoons and major parts to sandblast
and on their return, you check for any damage and/or cracks
that may have occurred in the last 50 or so years of use. Once
you have reworked the frame for options or repair, you then
put the skins back on and test fit your new options before paint
or primer.
“At the same time there is also a massive amount of smaller
parts that are getting sandblasted, painted, going to chrome
or being coated. We upgrade some parts to modern technol-ogy
and put in bushings, bearings and this type of thing where
back in the day it was metal on metal or something – we can
update and make it safer. Once the cab comes back from paint,
we put the motor, transmission and transfer case in and then
move to electrical and interior. After that we move to the fifth
wheel plates and differentials.
“At that point we can do what we call ‘A Three Mile,’ where
the Cat gets started and we run up the revolutions per min-ute
and put it in gear and run the drive train for three miles,
hence the name ‘Three Mile.’ After that we install the pontoon
and track system and then give it a drive test.”
Each Classic Cat restoration is quite the project and the fin-ished
product shows just how much work goes into each one.
If customers are interested in purchasing a restored cat,
Tucker Sno-Cat has a couple stock models in their yard or
people can bring in their own to be refurbished. The timeline
for restoring a cat is different for each one as it depends on
the size, model and year of the Cat and how custom the client
would like it.
Classic Cats by Tucker is proud to be a part of history and
continuing the legacy that E. M. Tucker Sr. started in the
early 1900s.
The company also offers maintenance training seminars for
both grooming and utility customers. These two-day mainte-nance
seminars occur during the summer months.
“These seminars are a great opportunity for customers
to meet the Tucker team here in Medford, Ore.,” said Mei-licke.
“We will have the training dates posted on our web-site
by May 1. And Tucker will also have them listed on the
monthly newsletter.”
When asked what accomplishments the company is most
proud of, Meilicke falls back on tradition. “We’re most proud of
our 4-track technology (4-track advantage), the fact that we’re
American made, been in business for 78 years and that we are
still family owned and operated by the Tucker family after all
these years; it’s really quite special.
“Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation plans to continue to manu-facture
top quality equipment that is made in the U.S.A. Tucker
continues to move forward with technology and design while
listening to customers who have requests and recommenda-tions.
Tucker Sno-Cat® Corporation will continue to keep cus-tomers
in a very safe top quality over snow vehicle for many
years to come!”
36 April 2020 | snowopsmag.com
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